Smoked Amber recipe

I've never used smoked malt before, but my GF and I had a Rauchbier. She's hinted at something similar. But with summer approaching, I'd like to tone it down into a session beer, and put together this recipe today for an American Amber.

7.85 lb American 2 row
1 lb Cherrywood Smoked Malt (Briess)
1 lb Biscuit
1 lb Crystal 80L
.5 oz Roasted Barley

1 oz Sterling - 60 min
1 oz Williamette - 15 min
1 oz Williamette - 5 min

Wyeast 1764 - Rogue Pacman

OG: 1.053
FG: 1.011
ABV: 5.48%
IBU: 30
SRM: 14

Anybody had any experience with smoked malt in a smaller beer? How much is too much?

I actually just brewed a smoked amber. Good call on the willamette hops- they go well in there.

I used 6 oz rauch malt in 5 gallons, and that was just enough to identify a smoky aroma and flavor without defining the beer. It sounds like you're shooting for more smoke character, though, so a pound might well be appropriate.

Let us know how it goes!

Sweet, dude. What was your grain bill?

I think you will find the Briess smoke malt not enough at 1lb. I have won 2 first place wins with my porter with that malt and both times they wished it had a little more smoke.

I will be smoking a pound or two of 2-row to be used in a RyePA recipe I am working on, I was thinking of about 15% of the grain bill to start. Any suggestions on a good percentage to lend a smokey character as opposed to a dominating flavor?

Interesting comments. Too much? Not enough? Sounds like I may just have to experiment.

I'm with you, azscoob. I'm looking for smokiness to define my beer, but not dominate it. Let me know what you decide.

Any tasting notes on the Briess Cherrywood? I just recently brewed a Smoked Amber with this grain at 25% and all Cluster hops. I sampled when transferring to secondary and am a little scared it was too much. Does it mellow with aging? I was thinking about dry hoping to mask / blend the smoke with more hop aroma.

As someone who's been to the Schlenkerla in Bamberg over 100 times I can tell you that 1 lb is not enough.

I made a Rauchbier earlier and only used 1 lb of rauchmalz. I wished I'd used two.

I just racked Smoked Amber where I used 2 lbs. There is a definite smoke flavor with a light body to the beer.

Interesting... well, I just ordered my grain bill, and went with a lb. Maybe I should have done two! Oh well. I'll let you all know how it goes.

<-- my recipe pulldown has some pics of a rauchbier I made with cherrywood and beechwood. It was just smoky enough. I think it was perfect. It is a smokebeer with an octoberfest base recipe.

I've also made a smokebeer with only beechwood, but the cherrywood is better (IMO). It does take more because, although the cherrywood smells strongly of sweet bacon, it produces a smaller flavor in the final beer. That is my experience.

kyleobie said:

Interesting... well, I just ordered my grain bill, and went with a lb. Maybe I should have done two! Oh well. I'll let you all know how it goes.

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I wouldn't go with less than 30% of grist bill. Maybe you can add 2 lbs. if you call or email quickly.

Finally brewed this today and, out of necessity, I went with the single pound. I used Rogue Pacman yeast. I mashed at about 149, which was lower than my target of 153. Hopefully, I'll end up with something dry and quaffable. This is envisioned as a summer beer with some balanced smoke flavor.

I also doubled the aroma/flavor additions to 2 oz.

I'll let ya'll know how it turns out.

I just drew my first hydro sample of this - we'll see how it turns out, but I think I got just the right amount of smoke flavor in here. I nailed both my FG and OG. I'm already excited for the final product. Thanks everyone for the tips.